Ricoh 3D awarded for BJT Additive Manufacturing of EV heatsink
Ricoh 3D, based in Telford, Shropshire, UK, announced that it has been awarded first place in the Sinter-Based Additive Manufacturing (SBAM) Component Award 2025, presented during the Fraunhofer IFAM 2025 Sinter-Based Additive Manufacturing Workshop held in Bremen, Germany.
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The award highlights Ricoh’s use of Binder Jetting (BJT) Additive Manufacturing in high-performance, cost-effective production of an aluminium inverter heatsink fin for use in an electric vehicle (EV). Fraunhofer IFAM’s Claus Aumond-Kopp presented the award.
Ricoh stated that its win reflects the global collaboration between Ricoh’s UK and Japan teams, as well as a leading Japanese heatsink supplier. By working across time zones in a continuous ‘day-night’ development cycle, Ricoh was able to maximise efficiency and accelerate the concept-to-prototype process.
The component
The AISI aluminium alloy fins – approximately 60 x 20 x 8 mm and 11 g – are designed to enhance turbulent airflow by optimising thermal exchange and improving overall cooling efficiency in EV inverter cooling systems.
The design incorporates a hybrid joining process intended to reduce the component’s volume, thereby lowering material usage and manufacturing costs while enabling watertightness through integration with conventionally fabricated aluminium covers. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations reportedly confirmed that Ricoh’s hybrid aluminium design exceeds the cooling performance of conventional copper plate fins, whilst achieving comparable production costs.
The heatsink fin was produced as a pre-production evaluation sample, with the goal of transitioning into mass production for real-world EV applications. If successful, Ricoh noted that it could mark a step toward commercial adoption of aluminium BJT Additive Manufacturing for functional, high-performance components. Replacing copper with aluminium, as in these fins, can offer reduced costs (particularly at a mass-production scale), lighter weight and more stable raw material supply, making it a solution well-suited to the large-scale production of thermal management components.
“We are honoured to receive this recognition from Fraunhofer IFAM,” said Insei Son, Ricoh 3D’s Engineer and Advisor, who submitted the case study entry and sample parts. “Huge thanks to all involved in this project – from our Japanese heatsink partners, to our engineering and R&D teams, who have worked tirelessly to push the boundaries of Ricoh’s BJT technology.”
“We will now continue this co-creation project with our heatsink supplier, evolving its possibilities further, demonstrating its potential for real-world production,” he concluded.
